ClapThe encounter at Carrow Road between Norwich City and Tottenham Hotspur was always going to be feisty, with Spurs living under an interesting new regime with Jose Mourinho and Norwich playing the kind of forward-thinking football that should have them in the top half.
As reported by BBC and The Guardian, both teams came out of it with something to remember as they shared the points in Norfolk.
Mario Vrancic was the man who opened the scoring after racing through the heart of Tottenham’s midfield, and they looked good value for their lead until early in the second half. Christian Eriksen scored with a really nice free kick, but the lead didn’t last long as a calamity of errors caused the Canaries to retake the lead through an Aurier own goal.
A clash of styles
Alas, in the 83rd minute, a penalty from Harry Kane salvaged a point for Tottenham as they continue to try and cut away at Chelsea’s hold on fourth place.
Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho had the following to say.
“I think the same defensive mistakes we made in the first half, we made in the second half. This is being a little bit of our history.
“We conceded two very bad goals. Our defensive mistakes are match after match.
“I have lots of work to do but it has been difficult because I always say you have to try and hide your fragilities. We have to improve defensively because there are too many individual mistakes. That’s very frustrating because we play well and cannot be more offensive than we were in the second half.
“Norwich defended with their souls and their lives.”
Daniel Farke, on the other hand, was happy enough with Norwich getting a point.
Just the beginning
“Over the course of the 90 minutes, a draw was a fair outcome and a good point for us.”
On VAR: “I don’t want to complain too much about this topic. My understanding is that VAR should make the game more fair. My gut feeling [after Pukki’s goal] was that we would find a situation where it was offside.
“Perhaps they found a part of his shoulder that was not onside. In my eyes, VAR doesn’t make the game more fair in this situation. The striker should be given the advantage. Being 2-0 up at half-time would have changed the game. It was a crucial situation.
“It’s a good start to the second half of the season and hopefully we can add many more points.”
Norwich have a lot of work to do before they can even come close to thinking about survival, but this is a good first step for them. Tottenham, on the other hand, need to give Mourinho time in order to see what he can do.
In terms of the game we got the sort of entertaining showcase that we’ve all come to expect from the Premier League – and it seems as if we’re only just getting started as the second half of the season begins.
